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The proximate causes of the Pacers’ game one loss have been well discussed.Missed shots, turnovers, missed free throws, and a four-minute scorelessstretch to end the game by Indy conspired with a couple of plays beautifullydesigned by Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy to give home court advantage tothe underdog Magic. However, to me, most of those were just things thathappened. Disappointing, sure, and certainly harmful to the Pacer playoffgoals, but I didn’t find them particularly troubling. I was more bothered bythe way the game was played than by any individual plays. Specifically, itbothered me how slowly this game was played.

Past as Prologue

The Pacers were supposed to handle the shorthanded — and just plain short— Magic in short order. When 8p9s posted our predictions, we weren’t anymore optimistic about Indiana’s advantage than most third-party projections.A “gentleman’s sweep” was widely predicted. And 8p9s, I, and the rest of theNBA prognosticating world made that prediction despite Orlando’s 3-1 recordover Indiana in the regular season series. There was one very clear and validreason: those games had Dwight Howard, and these games would mostcertainly not.

So, it was pretty much my worst-case scenario when I found myself watchinga game on Saturday night that looked very much like the regular seasoncontests between these squads. In fact, it had an almost startling resemblancea game played on another Saturday night way back in February. The nightbefore the Super Bowl, Orlando beat Indy 85-81 in a game where the Pacersheld the Magic to only 92 points per hundred possessions but could musteronly 88 per themselves. You’ll forgive me thinking I’ve seen a ghost when Iwatch Orlando win 81-77 in a game during which they were held to a littleover 92 per, but only permitted the Pacers to score 88 per hundred.

All night long, all I could think was, “Too slow.”

When asked about it on Sunday, Paul George acknowledged that the playersfelt it, too. “Yeah. We wanted to make [running] an emphasis,” he said.“Coming into the game, we wanted to run more and really challenge them toguard us in the open court. They did a good job of running to get back.”

This was a common refrain among the Pacer players. “We do have tocontinue to push the pace a little bit more,” said Darren Collison. “We’ve gotto use our speed to our advantage. We played right into Orlando’s hands withthat type of pace.”

Danny Granger said the Pacers had discussed tempo after the loss. “Honestly,[tempo] was another issue that we talked about why we lost.”

Your Move, Pacers

Pacer coach Frank Vogel touched on this subject before the game on Saturday.“Tempo is always important,” he said. “No matter who we’re playing, we wantto run. Stan Van Gundy is one of the best coaches in the NBA. He has his teamprepared — no matter who’s in uniform — to handle what your team’s strengthsare. It’s going to be a series of adjustments.”

And after losing home court advantage a mere 48 minutes into the postseason,it is Vogel’s Pacers who...CONTINUE READING AT 8p9s

While most people will talk about the Los Angeles Clippers putting together oneof the greatest comebacks in NBA playoff history, storming back from a 24-pointdeficit in the fourth quarter to beat the Memphis Grizzlies by the score of 99-98on the road in Game 1 of their first round playoff series, lest everyone forget thatthe Orlando Magic put together a comeback of their own (albeit on a much smallerscale) in their Game 1 victory against the Indiana Pacers.

After Darren Collison made a jumper off the dribble near the left baseline to givethe Pacers a seven-point lead at 77-70 with 4:05 left in the fourth quarter, theMagic went on an 11-0 run to — like the Clippers — close out the game and steala Game 1 on the road.

At the epicenter of Orlando’s comeback was Jason Richardson.

With the score at 77-72 following a difficult floater high off the glass by JameerNelson off the dribble in the paint while fading away from the rim, Richardsonmade back-to-back three-pointers to give the Magic a lead they would neverrelinquish. And ironically enough, both three-point shots were generated fromplays drawn up by head coach Stan Van Gundy following a timeout.

Jordan Kahn breaks down the latest NBA trends in video form. You can find more ofhis work at Basketball Things and follow him on Twitter @AyoitsJordan.

A couple of huge three-pointers from Jason Richardson down the stretch gaveOrlando an upset victory over Indiana in Game 1. Let’s take a look at the playsOrlando ran to get Richardson open.

Before getting to the fourth quarter, Orlando set up Richardson’s first three-pointerwith a curl to the basket in the third quarter. Orlando starts the play in their hornsset, and Jameer Nelson first gives it up to Glen Davis. Nelson continues into thelane where Richardson rubs Nelson’s defender off of him so Nelson can pop backto the top to receive the ball. Instead of continuing through to the weakside ofthe floor, Richardson spins back around and runs off of a down screen from Davis.He curls around the screen and hits a runner in the lane. Video of the full playis below.

Jumping ahead to crunch time, Orlando is in the horns set again, and Nelsonand Richardson perform a similar off-ball exchange. This time, however,instead of getting a screen from Davis to run to the wing, Richardson gets adouble screen from Davis and Ryan Anderson for an open three at the top ofthe key. By the looks of things, Paul George is anticipating Richardson poppingout to the wing again and is trying to stop him from getting there. His denialworks against him, as it gives Richardson a clear path to the top of the key.The full play is below.

I don't think it's news to anyone that this is a must-win game. If we take care of business tonight (emphatically, I hope), I'll feel good about this series again.

I don't even want to think about the alternative.

Here's hoping the guys are focused and in total execution mode. I'm looking for a monster game from Danny, more great stuff from Hibbert and West, and hopefully Vogel will get his point guard rotation figured out.

I'm so down after our loss in the first game that i see a bleak future for us in this series.I know it's not logical at all etc but i can't explain why i feel that way after Saturday's game.Suddenly I'm questioning almost everyone's ability bar Hibbert and West.

"Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well." - Voltaire"Everyone's values are defined by what they will tolerate when it is done to others." - William Greider